Truth and Lies
by dristi5683
Summary: "People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take." Will Jane Foster have what it takes? - COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Jane looked over her shoulder at Agent Barton up in the rafters with her heart thumping high in her chest. His gaze drifted around the empty lab, not really paying her much attention. She breathed out and faced the Tesseract. Her computer's monitor competed with its unearthly glow. The screen blinked at her, telling her the program was complete and ready to run.

Anticipation and dread zipped through her veins. Three years, and the Bridge was finally ready.

Her finger hovered over the Enter key. She'd have only a few moments once she hit it.

Closing her eyes, she played through the plan one last time. Everything needed to be perfect for it to work.

She touched the cool plastic key and pressed down. The Bridge turned on with a deep hum and sucked the power from the lights for a brief moment. She got to her feet and walked as calmly as she could to the containment unit holding the Tesseract.

"Dr. Foster!" Agent Barton called.

After releasing the lever, she picked up the tongs and removed the swirling blue cube.

The hiss of the agent's quick decent down the rope rung through the air louder than it should've.

She took the last few steps to the Bridge with ever increasingly shaky hands. Her heart was in her throat now. She could barely breathe.

His footsteps pounded on the concrete floor as he ran to her. "Dr. Foster, don't."

She slipped the Tesseract into the portable bridge she'd designed and built, then locked it in place with a quick twist of the handholds.

The sudden void of sound had her spinning to face the stern man who'd been in her life since the day she'd arrived, but who'd barely spoken a word to her. His bow was up, string pulled back, and an arrow was aimed at her chest.

"Put it down," he demanded.

The Tesseract connected to her, filling her with its readiness. The sensation was like slipping into a warm silky bath. Hey eyelids fluttered closed, but then shot open as the screeching alarms blared through the room.

Barton released his fingers from around the bowstring.

Her gaze zeroed in on the arrow as it streaked toward her. It undulated and spun. Light glinted off the metal tip. She shifted and released a bolt of energy from the Tesseract.

Time snapped back in place, and the the arrow sliced through the fleshy part of her shoulder. Blood seeped through her torn shirt and spread into a wide circle. She blinked down at the flesh wound, then at the agent lying on his back. His bow had fallen from his grip and landed a couple feet from him.

Soldiers streamed in through the large double doors and lined the perimeter of the room with rifles pointed at her.

Fury stormed in. His leather trench coat billowed out in the wake of his powerful stride. Coulson was right behind him, smaller but no less determined to stop her.

Before her gaze could dart back to Barton to see if she'd killed him, Fury spoke. "Put down the Tesseract."

"What right do you have to it?" she asked.

"The world is not safe if it's not in our hands."

She snorted in contempt. "The world would be safer without people like you keeping them blind and ignorant."

"Dr. Foster."

"People have a right to know the truth."

He lifted his open hands. "You've been working nonstop for the past couple weeks. You're tired and confused. Just give us back the Tesseract and the Bridge, and we—"

"You stole my work."

His gaze flicked to the soldier who had his fist raised, holding everyone back from shooting her. "Dr. Foster, this is your last warning."

She teleported out of the room just as he nodded and the soldier lowered his hand.

Jane appeared in the hallway of SHIELD headquarters, breathing hard. Her knees almost buckled from the adrenaline crashing through her in tidal waves. She looked down at the Tesseract. Its soothing hue calmed her nerves.

The plan.

She looked around the wide corridor and at the people backing away from her in surprise. "What floor am I on?"

No one responded.

Grabbing the person nearest her, she repeated the question.

His answer was garbled and rushed, but she got it nonetheless.

It took several jumps to get the hang of teleporting to such a specific destination. Still, it wasn't close enough.

She sprinted past people and darted into every room until the alarms turned on and the building went on lockdown. The Cube came in handy then. She blasted her way through every door to find mostly clerical offices and panicked workers. She grumbled at each failed attempt. Soldiers would no doubt be on their way.

Just when she thought she had been given the wrong information, she found the freezing cold room filled with rows and rows of tall servers. She fumbled through her pockets, and her phone clattered to the floor. After snatching it back up, she pulled out one of her flash drives and inserted it into the motherboard.

The virus needed time.

She teleported to the lobby and blasted the towering SHIELD symbol from its base. The relative silence crescendoed into discordant chaos. Screams filled the air. The rush of people fleeing from the falling monstrosity and the alarms added to the din.

A single thought was all it took to find herself alone in the conference room where the World Council had interviewed her three years ago. It was exactly as she remembered, expansive and surrounded by tall windows and glass walls.

She blew up the row of curved screens and their accompanying chairs where the councilmen and councilwomen virtually sat. It didn't erase the humiliating memory of her subjecting herself to their critique just to continue her life's work, but it helped to improve her mood.

A familiar woman ran in. Her heels clinked against the tiled floor, but then she abruptly stopped when she caught sight of Jane. Her eyes widened and she scurried back out.

Jane teleported in front of her. "Where's Pierce?"

The young assistant whimpered, but rattled off his location without hesitation.

The next instant, Jane appeared on of the three curved sections of the roof. Crewmen ran around the helicopter on the other section, prepping it for departure as Pierce walked straight to it with his head ducked and hair whipping around from the wind.

In a flash of the Tesseract's light, the helicopter went up in flames and Pierce was thrown back by the force of the explosion.

She teleported to his side and looked down at him. "Remember me?"

He blinked at her. His eyes were unfocused and his head lolled as he slowly regained consciousness.

"I remember you from the interview," she continued. "I remember everything, but you knew that already, right? That's what my file said: crack astrophysicist, eidetic memory, genius." She bent over him. "Docile."

The building's exit door rattled as someone tried to open it. She directed the Tesseract's power to shoot a beam of energy at the overhanging roof. The structure crumbled in on itself.

"I need something from you." She turned back to him, only to be blasted back several feet. She hit the ground hard. The air was forced from her lungs and the Bridge was knocked out of her hands. It landed close to the edge of the roof.

She gasped for breath and rolled on her hands and knees to crawl to the Bridge. The device still seemed to be in working order.

"Dr. Foster," a notorious amplified voice called out.

Jane turned to find Iron Man standing between her and Pierce.

"What's a nice girl like you going around stealing highly dangerous artifacts and blowing things up for?"

"What's a narcissistic man like you acting as a SHIELD henchman for?"

"You wound me." His voice suggested he found her amusing. It grated her nerves.

She turned back around and continued inching toward the Bridge. Being so close to the edge of the high rise building made her dizzy, and she wasn't even looking out past the barely-there border.

"You've made quite a mess of things, Foster." His footsteps were heavy clomps as he moved to her. "But if you give this up now, I'm sure we can work something out."

She didn't stop.

"Don't make me do it." His arc repulsors charged with that distinctive whine she'd heard numerous times in the videos of his fights.

Thunder rumbled overhead. She paused and looked up. It had been clear skies a moment ago. Lighter clouds rolled in under darker ones. They churned the sky into a roiling ominous mass.

Tony Stark's helmet shifted upwards as well. "What the—"

Lightning streaked from the sky and crashed into the rooftop with a blinding flash and an earsplitting boom.

While her eyes adjusted, all she could do was listen to a battle. Tony used his arc repulsors repeatedly, metal crunched, grunts ensued, and then there was nothing.

Jane scrambled to the edge despite the splotches still partly obscuring her vision.

"The Cosmic Cube does not belong to your kind," an accented deep voice said.

She clasped onto the Bridge just as a large hand grasped her arm.

The Tesseract ignited from her need to escape.

They landed in some kind of golden hall. Tall men, covered in armor, lined the walls. A wide staircase led to a platform where an older man sat on a throne and a younger dark-haired man, clad in green, stood. Everyone stared at her, but it was the younger one's arched brow who caught her attention. While the rest's expressions bordered on surprise and indignation, his was merely curious.

The hand holding her arm clenched tighter. "The Cosmic Cube. Give it to me."

She gritted her teeth and struggled to pry herself free. "Let me go."

He laughed, and her gaze shot to him. His firm grasp and hard words belied the softness of his blue eyes.

If she didn't know better, she'd think she'd landed on some kind of extravagant movie set with nothing but the most handsome actors playing out their medieval roles. As it was, she did know better. What more, she knew they weren't on Earth.

Jane connected to the Tesseract, and the old king stood. "Thor!" he called down to them.

The blond man pulled her closer to him just as she sent them away from what had to have been none other than the fabled Asgard.

Desert air and sun-baked rocks filled her lungs. It was the smell of home. She hadn't thought of a destination, but the Tesseract must've picked it from her brain.

Thor reached for the Bridge, but she twisted around and blasted him away from her. He landed on the dusty ground, tumbling end over end.

The plan.

She turned away from the Asgardian to find another before her. The dark-haired one. He made no move to stop her, though. She narrowed her eyes at him and teleported back to SHIELD headquarters.

Tony Stark was nowhere to be found, and Pierce was sitting upright, dazed but more aware of his surroundings. He flinched back at her sudden appearance at his side.

"You," he said. Recognition flickered in his eyes. Finally.

"Where's the main HYDRA base?"

His brows shot up, but then they lowered into a scowl. "You're a traitor."

"That all depends on how you look at it." She pointed the Tesseract at him. "Where's the base?"

"If we knew that, don't you think we would've already destroyed it?"

"Then tell me where you think it might be?"

His jaw clenched.

She blasted the space next to him.

His eyes widened and he scooted away from the charred section of the roof. " _You're_ the double agent. Surely your contact would've given you the location."

She didn't have help from anyone, but he didn't need to know that.

Grabbing his hair, she teleported them to the top of the Statue of Liberty's crown. She kept her gaze locked on him and not on their absurdly high position. It was colder and windier, but she wouldn't let him see her discomfort.

He teetered on the edge, then darted toward the head with wide eyes. "You're insane."

That wasn't the first time she'd been called that. "I'm going to destroy HYDRA," she explained.

His face transformed from frightened to bitter acceptance. It was as if he'd just taken off a mask. "I'll never tell you," he said, standing taller.

She furrowed her brows. "Why? They're your enemies too." When he said nothing, she added, "Tell me or I'll send you right off this thing."

He walked toward the edge with certain steps.

"What are you doing?" she asked despite knowing exactly what he was about to do.

She moved to him, but stopped when the dark-haired Asgardian materialized next to Pierce, holding onto the shorter man's collar. Pierce struggled to get away but was unable to move an inch. Restraining the human took no effort at all, leaving her to wonder just how strong these beings were.

A phone rang. And rang.

The Asgardian sighed and she realized it was hers. Surprised she had reception, she fumbled through her pocket, pulled it out, and almost dropped it. Erik's name flashed up at her, but she silenced the ringer and shoved it away.

"Shall we return to your mission?" the dark-haired man asked in a mocking manner.

She ignored his tone and said, "I need the location of HYDRA's base."

He looked at Pierce. "We all know you work for this organization."

She didn't.

"Waste my time," he continued, "and you will become intimately acquainted with the most excruciating forms of torture in all the realms." He bent closer to him. "We have ways to extend your pathetic life span, so that unbearable pain will be all you know for centuries."

The two men stared at each other for a long moment. Whatever death glare the Asgardian gave him must've been truly intimidating because Pierce's knees buckled, and he gave her exactly what she needed.

She teleported into a strange lab with a shirtless man strapped to a chair. Computers surrounded him, monitoring his vitals. The man struggled while scientists stood around, observing him as another called out words in Russian. No one noticed her in the corner of the room, and just as she was about to slip out, she noticed the man's silver arm. Bionic from the looks of it.

As more words were called, the man settled down, which should've been a good thing, but a chill raced along her spine at the deadness overcoming his panicked eyes. Whoever he was seemed to be slipping away with each utterance.

It was exactly how she'd felt working under SHIELD. The plan was the only thing that kept her going.

Before she knew it, she was blasting away the scientists, running to the now-still man, and undoing his restraints. He didn't move, just continued to stare at nothing.

"Hey, are you okay?" That was a stupid question. Of course he wasn't okay. And she didn't have time for this.

She got in his line of sight. "Listen, you're free. Get out of here before they realize it."

Still, no response.

She shook her head and teleported out of the room.

Similar to SHIELD headquarters, she was forced to run around to search for their server room. Unlike the last time though, she couldn't find it. All of the logical places came up empty. Even more surprising was that their alarms hadn't turned on. Surely someone had noticed her presence.

Two guards turned around a corner and stopped when they saw her. They shouted at her in Russian. She could surmise what they had said, but, in the end, it didn't matter.

She lifted the Tesseract and directed its power at them. Their ashes rained down on her as she continued to the next corridor.

"Brutal...but efficient." The Asgardian's smooth voice had her spinning around.

"Why are you following me?" she asked.

"I am intrigued. You are the first truly interesting thing to happen in a century."

She rolled her eyes and turned to leave, only to find herself face to face—really face to chest—with him.

"I don't have time for this," she exclaimed.

"Yes, you mortals don't have time for much, do you?" he asked from behind her.

She whipped around to find him still standing in the same place, yet he was also next to her. A copy, she realized.

Walking through the fake Asgardian, she allowed herself a brief moment to marvel at how it shimmered then disappeared before she continued on.

"I can get you the information you need," he called to her.

"Unless you know where the server room is, you're useless to me." She was actually dying to know how he did all of his feats.

"I'm sure that can be arranged."

She clenched the Bridge and faced him. "If you're wasting my—"

He flicked his hand, and Pierce appeared on his knees looking worse off than before.

Jane couldn't keep her surprise from showing. "Was he invisible, or did you teleport him here without touching him?"

"These are but simple tricks. There are far greater mysteries out there, Jane Foster."

"How did you—" Pierce must have told him her name. Probably through torture by the looks of him.

The Asgardian smiled, and though it was on the mischievous side, she found herself drawn to him even more. He nudged Pierce with his boot and said, "The server room. Where is it?"

"I'll never tell you." He spat blood on the Asgardian's pants.

The dark-haired man clicked his tongue and waved his hand. Pierce disappeared.

She turned away to continue her search, but spoke over her shoulder at him. "Come find me if you can get the information out of him." She hoped he accepted her challenge, but only because she wasn't sure if she'd find the room without his help.

Three floors down, he materialized in front of her, holding a limp Pierce by the collar. The human's feet barely touched the floor. He shivered and trembled, and his skin was mottled with frostbite.

Without any encouragement, Pierce rattled off the location through teeth that clattered uncontrollably. Then, his eyes hardened and he continued. "You can't stop us. HYDRA is everywhere, in every government and every major corporation. We will persevere."

"When I'm done," she said, "there will be no hierarchy for you to hide under."

Then she teleported to the correct floor and ran to the designated room. After blasting open the locked door, she slipped the last virus-riddled flash drive into the motherboard.

When she walked out, the man with the metal arm stood before her, several feet away. Those once-dead eyes were now filled with murderous intent. Of course it was just her luck to rescue someone who wanted her dead.

"Who are you?" she asked.

His answer was a gunshot to her head. Except, the Tesseract's field quanta engaged, and the bullet merely pinged off the energy barrier. Though, it didn't stop her from flinching back.

He unloaded the entirety of his magazine clip on her, and still, he kept trying to fire his weapon. It was like he was a scratched record. And she couldn't help but feel an odd affinity for him.

As gently as she could, she sent out a beam that rammed into him like a truck. He crashed through a wall into another room, but at least he wasn't a pile of ash.

She teleported around the building, destroying anything that looked important, and outright obliterating what seemed to be torture chambers. Smoke filled the room she was in—hell, the entire floor she was on. Everywhere she turned, there was proof of HYDRA's deplorable intent to control by any means necessary. SHIELD was no different. Both thought they knew what was best for mankind.

The overhead sprinklers turned on with a violent hiss. She lifted her face and let the water cleanse her grime-coated skin. Strength and certainty replaced the fatigue that had settled in her bones over the course of the years.

She teleported to the top of a hill that overlooked the HYDRA facility and watched the blazing fire slowly consume the compound. The shirtless man's image flickered in her mind, and she sighed.

After finding her way to his prostrate form, she touched his metal arm and sent them back to the hill. He was far too heavy for her to move, so she just left him lying there at her feet.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

Without taking her gaze off the building, she answered it.

"Jane?" Erik asked. "What are you doing? Where are you?"

"I'm doing what is necessary."

"It's madness, Jane. Stop this and come home."

She looked down at her feet and whispered, "I'll miss you."

He breathed out. "Oh, Janie. They'll come for you. They'll all come for you, and they won't stop until you're no longer a threat."

"Good." It'll make it easier for her. "Take care, Erik."

"Jane! Jane—"

She hung up and sent the phone to the bottom of the Pacific. Tears lined her eyes, and her heart stuttered off beat. He and Darcy would be the only people she missed from her old life.

"You are a strange Midgardian," the Asgardian said.

She didn't bother to look at him. His sudden appearance was no longer a surprise.

"Who's he?" he asked.

Her eyes landed on the unconscious man. "A reminder."

"Of your purpose?"

Honestly, she wasn't quite sure.

He turned to watch the growing fire and clasped his hands behind his back. "What will you do next?"

The smoke was now a thick black, like a charred hand grasping for the ephemeral clouds. "Destroy the rest of them," she answered.

"They will slander your name, make everyone hate you."

"I know."

"Powerful people will hunt you, Thor included."

She nodded, because that was expected as well.

He faced her with a gleeful smile. "Mind if I join you?"

She lifted a brow. "Who are you?"

"Loki of Asgard and Jotunheim, God of Mischief, adopted son of the Allfather, and brother to the mighty Thor."

She should've guessed that. "Will you explain how you're teleporting without an external aide?"

"Not only that"—he leaned toward her—"but I will teach you all of Yggdrasil's secrets."

Bending, she touched the metal-armed man, and said, "Then try to keep up this time."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** this was supposed to be a one shot for me to experiment with an anti-hero Jane and work with several themes, but my sister is demanding that I continue it. If you agree with her, let me know.

Regardless, thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Why aren't they mentioning all the documents I released from SHIELD and HYDRA's database servers?" Jane whispered as she watched the TVs over the bar. There'd been no breaking news alerts, not even a single mention in the scrawling words at the bottom of the screens.

Loki pushed his untouched beer away from him with a slight curl of his upper lip. Instead of the odd green attire she'd met him in, he'd changed his clothes with a flick of his hand. Now he wore an all-black suit that was as dark as his long hair. It made him even more handsome, though she did her best not to notice.

"Perhaps they never received it," he said.

"The virus was perfect." An older man walked by and gave her a double take. She shrunk into herself despite being disguised as an average-looking male patron. Her picture with the words 'dangerous criminal wanted' blazoned above it was the one thing the news had covered. "Are you certain no one can see through your magic?"

"You question my ability?"

She tensed at his hostile tone and gripped the bridge resting on her lap. Sitting up straighter, she turned to face him fully. "You don't intimidate me."

His gaze flicked down to her neck where she knew her artery would be ticking away, betraying her racing heartbeat. He smiled, and when he looked at her again, his eyes were blood-red.

Her jaw slackened, and she leaned in closer to better see in the dim light. The white was replaced with red. The irises were a darker shade, but the pupils were still black. "Is that your natural color? Do all Jotunns have similar eyes?"

Before she could ask another question, he backed away and his eyes returned to their normal green. "You _are_ a strange Midgardian."

She shrugged and turned back to the TVs. Gesturing to the anchors, she said, "They either know everything and are hiding it, or the government is censoring them."

"So we eliminate the middleman."

"Eliminate, as in kill, or we make it public?"

"The dead don't spread lies."

She shook her head. "I'm not doing this to kill everyone or take over the country."

"You have the power of the Cosmic Cube at your fingertips. You could rule the nine realms."

After downing the last of her beer, she said, "I don't want to rule anything. I just want liberty." She stood. "And maybe a little revenge."

When the bartender no longer faced them, she touched Loki's arm and teleported them back to the dingy motel room she'd illegally acquired. With no money, she did what she had to do. It wasn't ideal, but there was a roof over their heads and a bathroom to clean up in. Loki had politely offered to hop into a bank's vault and take what they needed, but she'd declined.

He gingerly backed away from the curtains coated in a layer of gray dust. "To think I left a palace for this. If you'd see reason—"

"Where's Metal-Arm Man?" She charged by the bed Loki had tossed him on and into the bathroom. The cracked mirror, now missing a large chunk, grabbed her attention. Had he hurt himself?

The tub's half-hanging plastic curtain moved, though just barely. She stared at its multiple reflections in the mirror, thinking she was mistaken, and yet her pulse kicked into high gear.

As she slowly turned around, the curtain exploded open and the large man flew at her. The light glinted off the jagged piece of mirror he brandished in his metal hand.

Loki appeared next to Jane and shoved her out of the way. She hit the tiled wall hard, jamming her shoulder, and fell to the sticky floor. The bathroom spun as she righted herself to look for the bridge. It had fallen from her grasp and clattered to the floor.

The two men fought in the tight space as if it were a boon rather than a hindrance. They utilized everything, from the walls as a brace to the toilet as a launchpad. Loki was quick, dodging each jab and swipe of the sharp glass, but the shirtless man was a tank. None of the Asgardian's attacks seemed to faze him.

Just as she found the bridge behind the sink, the two men's vicious fight paused. They were locked in a stalemate with the assassin's makeshift blade a scant couple inches from Loki's chest. Neither moved, though their muscles quivered with the effort to overcome the other. Their eyes were fierce, but only Loki's were alight with a plethora of other emotions. The human still seemed part-dead inside.

The bionic arm whirred, the layered plates shifted, and then Loki hissed as the glass was suddenly imbedded into his upper chest.

Jane leapt for the bridge. She clasped onto the handholds and spun back around on her bottom to point the Tesseract where the two men had been just a moment ago. Only now, they were a foot away with Loki standing over the human with a slender dagger pressed to the kneeling man's throat. How he suddenly got the upper hand was beyond her.

"Don't kill him," she said.

Loki shot her a withering glare. "You presume to command me? After this filth nearly—"

"I don't think he's fully himself."

"Then that is an even better reason to end his miserable existence."

The metal-armed man looked at her through the long strands of hair hanging heavy with sweat over his face. They were no longer the eyes of a cold assassin. The truth of who he was flickered there.

"Let him go," she said.

"I knew you were odd, but I did not take you for a fool." Her jaw clenched at the insult. "How many more attempts on your life will need to happen before you see reason?"

She repeated her demand despite the spiked barb of doubt lodging itself into her brain.

After a tense stare down, Loki lifted his dagger and stepped away from the human. "Next time he tries to kill you, I won't stop him."

The shirtless man darted out of the room then through the front door before they took their eyes off each other. She leaned back against the wall and breathed out in relief. "He'll be a powerful ally."

"Or a powerful enemy." Loki held out a hand to help her up. "But what's one more?"

She accepted his assistance and did her best to wipe off the filth stuck to her jeans.

He clicked his tongue. "What a shame. I could procure you some new grabs, if I could only—"

"Alright, just do what you have to without making a scene."

He disappeared. "They won't even know I was there," his disembodied voice said before she felt him leave the room.

oOoOo

"So, we—"

"Midgardians," Loki clarified as a group of tourists wearing 'I heart NYC' shirts veered around him.

"—aren't capable of magic," Jane continued, pushing through the same group of people. "Like we lack the genetic makeup for it?"

"Exactly. It is why your realm has been left alone. For the most part, at least."

She knew he was referring to the story Erik had told her of the Jotunns attacking Earth. "But with the Tesseract under my control, I might be able to do what you can."

He laughed. "No, my dear. You'd have to fully connect to it. This contraption may allow you some modicum of control, but it will never be truly yours for you are a mere mortal."

While his condescension was grating, she knew he was right. The Red Skull's demise was proof enough. "But you said I could rule the nine realms."

"You can."

They stopped in front of a multistory building that looked like a hideous, bottom-heavy box and she almost tripped over her heels. "I don't know why you insisted I wear this." The black dress was too form fitting, too elegant.

With his fingertips on her elbow, he steadied her. The gentle touch was a searing hot poker. She jerked her arm back before she could stop herself, though he didn't seem to notice the odd effect he had on her.

"If we are to appear as rich philanthropists, then you must look the part," he said, commenting on the remark she'd half forgotten.

She wondered if he saw through the disguise he'd given her. The cover had been simpler this time: a change of hair color and length, fuller lips over a pointier chin, and larger eyes that matched the blue of a late-evening sky.

"Do stand up straight," he chided her. "My magic can't fake a regal posture."

"I don't see why we can't teleport in and get the information we need."

He looped an arm around her waist and lead her into the main lobby. With a dip of his head, he whispered into her ear. "Money talks. And it does so faster than us scouring through their encrypted files."

No matter how much she tried, she couldn't repress the shiver his cool breath caressing the shell of her ear brought on.

He looked down at her with a corner of his lips quirked upwards.

"Mr. and Mrs. Goldberg," a young man in a sharp suit said, "please follow me."

Loki held her close as they made their way through the lively building. He seemed to take pleasure in her discomfort. While she found him handsome, as well as equally charming and infuriating, she didn't trust him. His lust for the Tesseract was palpable. The bridge, neatly stored in her over-sized, luxury purse, bumped against her leg with each step they took and served as a constant reminder of her purpose.

They walked into a large, opulent office with a fantastic view of New York City. The CEO of the news agency behind the desk stood. His suit probably cost more than she'd made in her entire life.

"Welcome." The man shook their hands, then gestured for them to sit.

After Loki and the CEO exchanged the required pleasantries, sipped on glasses of scotch, and chatted about the business and the state of the world, the two stood, forcing her to clamber to her feet, and then shook hands.

As they followed the young man back through the lobby, Jane tried to work the kinks out of her cheeks. They ached from the smiling torture session.

"Stop that," Loki whispered. "You look like an orangutan with peanut butter stuck in its mouth."

She glared at him. "How do you even know about our primates."

"I know a great many things." He looked over his nose at the assistant in some kind of arrogant farewell and exited the building. "And I have the information you need."

She knew the two men were speaking in code. "Are they covering for SHIELD?"

He smiled down at her.

"Loki."

"When the time comes, I will ask for a favor. You must grant me this without quarrel."

She tried to pull away, but he didn't give her an inch as they continued down the road. He may be tall and thin, but he was not lacking in the strength department.

"You're not getting the Tesseract," she finally said.

"I know."

Tearing her gaze off him, she trained her eyes on the woman in front of her. "And I'm not having sex with you." Despite doing her best to not blush, warmth suffused her cheeks. Damn her pale skin and cloistered life.

"Trust me, Jane. If it came to that, you will be the one doing the begging."

The seductive lilt in his voice made her toes curl. She cleared her throat and squared her shoulders. "Lucky for me, you're not my type. Now, tell me if the news agency was in on the coverup."

His quiet mirth made his face glow, and made her want to punch his perfect nose.

He pulled her tighter to him. Any closer and they might as well share clothes. The one positive side effect of their proximity was that she no longer had to shove her way through the crowded streets to keep pace with him

"They are concealing information for not just the government," he said, "but anyone who is invested in the future of the agency. Our charitable donation would ensure our privacy as well."

Anger spread through her like a wild fire on a dry, windy day. "Then they must be eliminated. The public needs an unbiased news source. They need to know the truth."

"Didn't you say there are two others you sent the files to?"

"Yes."

"Shall we confirm our suspicions of them?" He stopped and turned her to face him. They were a boulder in a sea of people flowing around them. "Or do we wipe the slate clean? Give Midgard a fresh start?"

She repeated his words in her mind, playing out what a new beginning would mean. The corrupt leaders would finally be deposed, no more suppression, no more lies. Freedom.

Shaking her head, she said, "A judgment without a trial is not right."

He sighed, but nodded. "To London, then?"

"Paris."

He lifted a brow in question.

"I've always wanted to visit the Louvre."

oOoOo

"I can't believe they're all bought and sold," Jane said, tossing her coat over the chair in the elegant hotel suite Loki had procured for them.

"Your naiveté is charming." He walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Manhattan and clasped his hands behind his back. "We could have saved two days if you had listened to me."

"What does a person with practically endless years ahead of them care about a couple days?"

"The games of mortal men bore me."

"Then go." She kicked off her ridiculous heels. "You're the one who asked to tag along."

His hands clenched into fists.

She shouldn't have said that. He had been nothing but helpful and she wouldn't have gotten as far as she had without him.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to apologize, but before she could utter a word, he teleported out of the room.

 _Great_. She had no idea where to look for him.

She flopped onto the chair and rubbed her temples. She could continue with the plan without him. It wouldn't be easy, but that had been her life up until he came around.

Snatching the bridge out of the purse, she slipped on her shoes and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She was no longer disguised, which wasn't a surprise since Loki was not there to maintain the illusion. What was surprising, though, was her appearance. She barely recognized herself. The dark circles around her eyes were no more, her skin looked radiant, and she stood taller. She was about to write it off as the effects of restful sleep, but she couldn't deny Loki's influence on her.

Steeling herself, she closed her eyes and replayed the plan in her mind. She had to be calm and quiet for it to work. The less conspicuous her actions were the higher the likelihood she would actually get to all three news agencies before they alerted the police.

 _It would've been easier with Loki_ , the barbed doubt said, burrowing deeper inside her.

She clenched her hands around the bridge and told the Tesseract to send her to the CEO's office.

As soon as she landed, she spun around, aiming the alien artifact at whomever might be there.

Empty.

She cursed under her breath, and paced the length of his ostentatiously large desk. Everything about the room irked her. The rich carpets, the all pervading mahogany wood, and the atrocious cologne that hung in the air like thick fog.

Catching sight of the glass container of scotch, she poured herself a drink and sat in his oversized leather chair. She would wait right there, let him see her occupying his space, and then turn him to ash.

As time ticked by, literally—the ornate analog clock was relentless—her eyes roamed over his desk. She chose not to look at the pictures of his family, and instead, decided to see what he stored in the drawers. She hoped it was something incriminating, but it ended up being even better. A day planner.

She flipped to the current date and discovered not only that he was out of town, but that he would be back for a board meeting the next day.

Smiling, she put the day planner back, teleported to her hotel room, placed a wide-brimmed hat to cover the upper half of her face and grabbed her purse, then left to treat herself to a well-deserved lunch.

No one stopped her, no one got in her way as she walked down the street. Even though she was five-foot nothing, she was taller than Loki. She had the power of the Tesseract. She had an even better plan. She was about to free all of these poor souls from their invisible chains.

"Jane Foster," Barton said.

She stopped dead in her tracks and jerked her head up to see under her hat. Her heart thudded offbeat at the sight of the SHIELD agent, alive and well, standing before her along with a redheaded woman Jane had never seen. They stood with commanding stances and hands that lingered near their weapons.

Pedestrians steered clear of them. Most didn't bother to stop, but some took up positions off to the side with their phones aimed at them.

"Thought I was dead?" he asked.

"Honestly, I was never quite sure." She inched her trembling hand closer to her purse so she could grab the bridge to teleport out.

They're arms snapped upwards. The redhead held a gun, and Barton had his bow and arrow, both weapons steadily trained on her.

"Hands up," the woman commanded.

Jane froze. She was only a good six inches from the opening in her purse, but they could shoot her faster than she could reach inside. Her jaw ached from the constant clenching of it. She should've had her hand on the bridge the entire time she was in public. She should've better disguised herself. She should've—

Shots wrung out in the air behind her, a quick tap, tap, tap. Jane flinched with each jarring sound Everyone near them ran away, creating a loud and chaotic splitting of the sea. The SHIELD agents' gazes jerked away from her while the redhead spoke quietly in her comms.

Jane eased her hand toward her purse, but Barton's bow was trained on her before she could get too close. "Is that your backup?" he asked.

"It would certainly be nice if I had a team of people behind me, or a whole government. But, no, it's just me."

He narrowed his eyes, as if he didn't quite believe her. "Then who's that?"

His question was punctuated with another gun shot. The redhead was a shade paler as she stared, slightly open mouthed, at the commotion.

Jane lowered her brows. The woman didn't seem like the easily-spooked type. Certain Barton wasn't going to shoot her in the back, Jane turned to look over her shoulder. Her pulse leapt into double time.

The man with the metal arm strode toward her, dispatching SHIELD soldiers left and right, if not with a gun, then with a knife and a brief tussle that barely slowed him down. His intense posture and death-glare meant he was the mindless killer again.

Loki was right. He should've killed him.

"Who is he?" Barton asked again.

She swallowed hard. "Someone who wants me dead."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I thought this story would be a one shot, and then I thought it would just be three chapters, then four, but now I have no idea. And that makes me nervous.

Thanks for letting me know you wanted the story to continue either by comment and/or favorite/follow. The power is in your hands. ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Nat," Barton said. "Nat!"

She blinked, tearing her dazed stare off the metal-armed man, and looked at him.

"Who is he?" he asked.

More shots rang out in the air. People scattered from the area, except for the few brave idiots who lingered to record everything. Now that the crowd was gone, Jane could see the dark van behind the two SHIELD agents, its door open, as if waiting for them to throw her into the back.

If that happened, she knew she'd never see the light of day again. That is, if she'd get to see another day.

But Jane refused to let that be her fate.

She eased her hand closer to the opening of her purse. When neither of them noticed, she moved a little more.

"The Winter Soldier," the redhead answered, making Jane forget about the bridge. "He's the most lethal HYDRA assassin for seventy years."

Jane furrowed her brows.

"Seventy?" Barton asked. "Like Rogers?"

The woman nodded.

"So he's a super soldier too?"

"Get the target out of here," she said, ignoring the question, much to Jane's dismay. After a deep breath, the redhead added, "I'll take care of him."

When she ran off, Barton grumbled and followed her with his eyes.

Jane used the distraction to reach the last several inches into her purse. The moment her fingers grazed leather, Barton's gaze snapped back to her, yelling at her to raise her hands.

"You are working for a lie," she tried to explain. "SHIELD, HYDRA. They're two sides of the same coin."

His gaze flicked behind her.

She could barely hear the grunts and thuds of the fight going on behind her, but they were consistent enough for her to know the redhead was holding her own against the Winter Soldier.

"Pierce was high up in the command of HYDRA," she yelled at him to get his attention.

"What are you talking about?"

She wanted to throw something at his thick head. The Winter Soldier was bound to get through the redhead, and then Jane would be next. "SHIELD has been compromised, and everyone has their heads so far up their asses they can't even see the truth."

"Pierce, a HYRDA agent?"

"Yes!" She did her best not to sigh. "Many of your people are HYDRA. If all of the global news agencies weren't just as corrupt, you would've been made aware of this by now."

For a moment, his gaze lowered, as if he might actually be taking in what she'd said, but then he looked at her with renewed determination. "Dr. Foster, you are under arrest for acts of terrorism, for the murder of Andrew Pierce—"

"You're not understanding—"

"Hands up!"

She hadn't realized her hand had sunk further into her purse, but she refused to move. She'd rather die in the middle of a New York street, than in the basement of some nameless building.

He pulled the bowstring tighter.

She closed her eyes, either ready to grab the bridge and teleport out or to feel the excruciating pain of an arrow in her chest.

Something whooshed by her ear. She tensed and opened her eyes to find Barton caving in on himself, holding his limp arm, and gritting his teeth. A knife hilt stuck out of his shoulder and his bow was by his feet.

She stared at the strange turn of events, and just as she finally remembered the bridge, a calloused hand grasped her arm from behind.

"More are coming," a smooth masculine voice said. The Winter Soldier's. "Get us out of here."

Grabbing the bridge, she sent them back to the hotel suite. As soon as their surroundings solidified, he released her.

"I thought you were going to kill me," she said, backing away from him.

He looked around the lavish room, not noticing her retreat or not caring enough to react. "That was my mission."

"What changed?"

"I remember."

She followed him as he poked around the room, checking under tables and lamps, inside closets and dressers. "Remember what?" she asked.

"Does anyone know you're staying here?"

"No. Remember what?"

"What about the tall fella?"

"He's gone." She dropped her purse on the floor with a thud to get his attention. "What did you remember?"

"Everything." He stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.

She stared at the fine grain of the wood, seriously tempted to barge in there. "Does that mean you'll help me?"

"Besides pissing everyone off, I don't know enough of what it is you're doing to assist you."

"Dismantling SHIELD and HYDRA."

His low chuckle grated her nerves. She narrowed her eyes at the door and grabbed the handle, but then the shower turned on and she backed away.

After changing out of her dress, she paced the length of the windows, readjusting her plan. If he worked with her, then that would greatly enhance the speed of the operation. They could coordinate a simultaneous attack on two of the three news agencies.

When the bathroom door opened, she swung around, ready to inform him of everything she'd learned from her reconnaissance with Loki, but then she caught sight of him in nothing but a towel, and ended up forgetting everything.

"Hey, doll, eyes up here," he said, pointing from his very impressively thick chest and defined abs to his face. Which was just as distracting.

She turned around, partly to give him privacy, but mainly because her cheeks were suddenly on fire.

"You think you can get me some clean clothes?" he asked.

"That—" She cleared her throat. "That depends on whether or not you're helping me."

"So that's how it is, huh?" he asked with an audible smile. "What if it's payment for saving your life back there?"

She faced him. "How _did_ you find me?"

"I tracked SHIELD while they tracked you." He shrugged as if it were such a simple thing. The action made his bionic arm whir faintly.

She looked at it, wanting to ask a thousand questions but thinking it wise not to.

He flexed the silver hand into a fist and stared down at it. The expression on his face shifted from one of amusement to loathing. "Preferably a long-sleeve shirt and a pair of gloves."

"So you'll help me?"

He nodded, and she was gone and back in two flashes of blue. She held out a large bag of clothes for him, but he was still blinking back the blinding light of the Tesseract's teleportation.

"Did you kill them?" she asked.

"You'll have to be a little more specific than that." He looked down at the overflowing bag in her hand, and his eyes widened.

"I wasn't sure of your size," she said, referring to the amount of clothes she had shoved into the bag during her mad dash through the store.

He walked to her, and she was careful to keep her gaze trained on his face and not on the dark stubble lining his strong jaw, or how much fuller his lower lip was compared to the top.

She mentally shook herself out of her stupor. "Did you kill the SHIELD soldiers and the redhead?"

"What does it matter?" He took the bag from her.

She thought of what Loki had said at the bar. "The dead can't hunt us down."

He quirked a brow at her. "But they can haunt us."

"I don't believe in ghosts."

Pointing to his temple, he said, "In here." He turned and strode back toward the bathroom. "And I don't have room for any more."

She'd killed two guards, not to mention whoever had been left in the HYDRA building she'd burned to the ground, and yet, she hadn't thought of them at all. What did that make her?

"He's a broken attack dog," Loki said.

She spun and found him sitting at the desk, reclining back with his legs spread.

"And a liability to your mission," he added.

"Maybe we don't have to kill them. Maybe we can put the information I have on everyone in the right hands."

"None of them, not your government or your news agencies, will ever see the justice they deserve. And if you think they'll willingly step down, then I have clearly allied myself with the wrong person."

She sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. How many times did top executives or politicians get more than a slap on the wrist when caught doing something illegal?

The bathroom door opened and the Winter Soldier stepped out looking very much like a normal person. "I see your tall fella has returned."

Loki got to his feet, stretching to his full height. "You hinder us in anyway and my blade will find no resistance when I slice your throat."

Jane tensed. The air seemed to spark with dangerous intent. It crackled along her skin like static electricity, making the hair on her arms stand on end.

The two men stared at each other, as if ready to pounce at a moment's notice, but then the Winter Soldier laughed, and said, "Nice to meet you too." Then he turned to her and continued. "Tony Stark plays by his own rules. Tell him what you know."

"He won't believe me. Barton didn't."

"He'll look into it though."

"Jane," Loki warned. "Even if this person is able to make the documents public, it wont be enough to stop the corruption."

"Try this first," the Winter Soldier said, "and if it doesn't work, we'll do it his way."

Tony certainly had more resources than her to get the information to the public. "Then we go now." She looked at Loki. "The CEO arrives tomorrow for a board meeting."

His brows rose in surprise, as if he'd been doubting her, but then he smiled and gestured to the bridge in her hand. "Lead the way."

"Hold up," the Winter Soldier said. "First, I want to know who I'm working with."

Jane introduced herself then Loki, because she didn't want to waste the time it would take for him to give all of his titles again. He looked at her with irritation, but it held no real heat.

"I'm Buck—" A pained expression flickered across his face. "James Barnes."

She watched him for a moment longer, then nodded to him before facing Loki. "Ready?"

"Always."

They landed in the middle of the Stark Tower lobby, and the alarms immediately went off. Bucky grimaced at the sound. He clenched his eyes shut and almost fell to a knee.

"Where would this Tony person be?" Loki asked.

"He'll come to us," she answered, then touched Bucky's shoulder as he grasped the sides of his head. "James?"

He seized her wrist and twisted it. One moment she was standing, the next she was on the floor as if he'd just knocked her over. Her elbow stung from taking the brunt of her fall, but it was her wrist that made her gasp in pain.

Releasing her, he sprung away like a frightened cat. "I'm sorry."

Loki helped her up. A warm energy flooded her from under his touch, and the aches and pangs were gone. "I told you," he said to her. "A broken attack dog."

She stared at him, torn between awe and irritation. He shouldn't talk like that. James probably suffered from PTSD.

"I should go," Barnes said.

Loki clasped his hands behind his back. "I believe that is wise."

"What? No!" Jane called out, though she realized there was no need for it. The alarms had turned off and the space was now vacant. She turned to find Tony Stark watching them in his Iron Man suit with the faceplate raised.

"As engrossing as this is," Tony said, "I have to ask, why are you in my building?"

The transformation Bucky went through in the short amount of time it had taken Tony to ask his question was just shy of spectacular. He'd gone from a wounded puppy, slinking away from her, to a fierce Rottweiler right by her side.

While the two men were in their battle stances, knives at the ready, Jane told Stark everything she'd learned of SHIELD and HYDRA. She had hoped Bucky would've given them more information, but he stayed deathly silent.

"And you sent all of this to the news?" Tony asked.

She nodded. "I don't know who to trust."

"Besides your friends here?"

Gesturing to Loki and ready to introduce him, the God of Mischief spoke up. "I am Loki of Asgard—"

"I know who you are, Rock of Ages." Stark cut in.

"Take care in how you address my brother," Thor said as he strode into the room, holding his hammer.

"He is a prince of Asgard, though he will no doubt spend some time in the dungeons for this game he is playing."

"Brother," Loki greeted him. He opened his arms and smiled, and yet the animosity was palpable. "I am helping free Midgard of the tyranny and injustice plaguing it. Is this not a noble cause?"

"Aye, if it were the truth."

He lowered his arms and put on a hurt expression. "I have expressed no desire in the Cosmic Cube, have I, dear Jane?"

Before she could stop herself, she shook her head. Whatever they were going on about was of no consequence to her. "Will you look into it and get the information out there?" she asked Tony.

"I will, but only if you give the Tesseract back to the Asgardians."

"Why not SHIELD?" she asked, testing him.

"After everything I've learned, Asgard is the best place for it."

She almost sagged in relief. "So you believe me?"

"Yes, and once you give Thor the Tesseract, we can work together to ferret out the traitors."

Loki watched her from the corner of her eye. Not for the first time she wondered just what his end goal was.

"Lady Jane," Thor said, "the Cube does not belong on this realm or in mortal hands. Return it to Asgard and you will not be punished."

Maybe she was in over her head. With Tony on her side, she could achieve her goal just the same, and without anymore loss of life. No more blood would be on her hands.

Captain America ran inside from the entrance. "Bucky!"

Everyone turned to face the newcomer, but no one was more surprised and subsequently tense than James.

"Come with me." Rogers' face fell when James didn't move. "SHIELD is on their way. We have to go."

Jane spun around to glare at Tony. "You contacted them?"

His silence was answer enough.

"I _am_ a fool." She laughed bitterly at herself. The only people she could trust were the ones who'd already proven themselves.

"I didn't know," Tony said.

"Now you do." She turned to Bucky. "Go if you want no more ghosts haunting you."

Loki cleared his throat, and Jane noticed Thor gripping his hammer like he was ready to smash some heads in.

"Bucky," Rogers pleaded.

James' eyes landed on her. "I can stand a few more if it means HYDRA's downfall."

She nodded and held out a hand to him.

"No!" Thor swung his hammer and hurled it at them.

Loki clasped on to Jane and Bucky and sent them hurtling through time and space.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thanks for reading! And for those of you who shared your thoughts on the last chapter, a super big thanks. It's been a crazy week, hence the late update, so I didn't get a chance to reply, but they're greatly appreciated. Sometimes I debate whether or not I should spend my free time writing, and, during those low points, the comments are what really keeps me going.

As usual, my sister helped polish the chapter, so she has my gratitude as well. I get to see her in two weeks! I can't wait!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

As soon as Loki had teleported them out of Stark Tower, they had gathered everything they needed and prepared to enact her plan. No time was wasted. Loki hadn't even spared a moment to antagonize Barnes or give her another backhanded compliment.

"After this, HYDRA's next?" James asked.

"Yes." She watched him closely and noticed how he shifted on his feet ever so slightly, how his shoulders were just a touch more tense. "If this plan is going to work, we'll need you to follow through with your end. Can we trust you?"

He nodded.

"Then we shall depart." Loki clasped onto Barnes' shoulder and looked at her. "I will be waiting for you at the rendezvous point."

Without pausing for an acknowledgement, he was gone, dropping off James before jumping to his own target.

She grabbed the bridge with both hands and thought of the boardroom in New York. In a blink, her surroundings transformed into the softly lit, posh room boasting a long table and twenty-something chairs filled with men and women in their sharp business attire. Each of them looked her way with varying degrees of shock. One had even jumped out of his chair with a hand to his chest and eyes so wide they took up nearly half of his face.

After locating the CEO, she unleashed the power of the Tesseract on the board members. Their ashes coated not only their chairs but the table and the floor.

The CEO's gasp pulled her attention to him. She focused only on his smug face, twisted in horror, as she walked over the remains of his employees toward him.

He pushed his chair away from her, rolling only a short distance before his back hit the wall.

"What do you want?" he asked. "Whatever it is, I'll make sure it's yours."

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of press—"

"And that cannot be limited without being lost," he finished the quote for her. "You're the one who sent us the files."

She stopped in front of him and nodded.

His gaze flicked around the too-silent room, though it returned constantly to the Tesseract's unearthly blue. "And you think we were protecting the government." Hope brightened his face. "Because I can assure you—"

"I know you protect your interests, no matter who or what it is." The alien artifact flared with her deadly intention. "And I know that society can no longer trust you to safeguard her liberty."

His hands shot up to cover his face. "Wait!"

She looked at her watch. There wasn't much time left.

When he realized he was still alive, he swallowed and lowered his arms. "I kept everything you sent. They thought I destroyed it, but I didn't."

Staring at him, she said, "You were going to use it as blackmail."

"It's yours if you want it." He fumbled through the pockets in his suit before pulling it out and brandishing the little black USB drive. "For my life."

She held out her hand, and he sighed as he dropped the device into her palm. She wouldn't know if he was lying until she plugged it in.

He got to his feet, brushing off his coat, and smiled at her. "It was a pleasure doing business with you."

"Libertas inaestimabilis res est."

He tilted his head in confusion.

"Liberty is a thing beyond all price," she clarified, then ignited the Tesseract.

She stared at his ash-filled chair, listening to her heartbeat pound out an unsteady rhythm. It rose and fell like the dark thoughts churning in her mind. She'd just killed a roomful of people. And she felt nothing. It was as if a cocoon of impenetrable cold had wrapped around her, numbing her.

The sound of her beeping watch pulled her back to the present. She had to go, and yet, she was frozen, torn between who she had been and who she was becoming. When she blinked, her eyelashes were heavy with unshed tears. She swiped at them and looked at the moisture on her fingertips with her brows pulled together.

The door burst open with a loud bang.

She spun around to see Barton leading the charge into the room. Just as he turned his bow and arrow on her, fingers loosening their grip on the bowstring, she teleported to the rendezvous point.

"You're late," Loki said from his favorite chair near the windows, while eyeing her carefully.

She shoved aside her unease and ignored him to scan the hotel suite. "Where's James?"

He shrugged. "He hasn't signaled me."

"We should make sure he's okay." She caught his look of disdain for the soldier and added, "Are we not all broken in one way or another?"

"Maybe you mortals are, but not us."

She doubted it, but she said nothing more of the subject. "I'm going."

With exaggerated fatigue, he stood and said, "Then I shall go too."

The next moment they were standing in another boardroom, the exact opposite of the one she'd visited: bright and modern with touches of artistic flair. The room's occupants were also a stark contrast to hers. Instead of dead, they were alive and bound to their chairs with articles of their own clothing. A sock gagged each of them, stifling their words but not their sounds of terror.

Barton stood with a gun trained on a trembling woman backed up against a wall. His aim was steady, his finger hovered over the trigger, and he was as frozen as Jane had been, though that had been after she'd killed everyone.

"Oh, for Yggdrasil's sake," Loki said, magicking a dagger out of thin air. He grabbed the man closest to him and placed the blade to his throat.

"Loki," she said.

"Don't tell me you're going to let this scum go because of _his_ feelings?" He gestured to Barnes with a slight nod.

She pulled the USB drive out of her pocket. "I have a plan."

"Does it involve every one of these people?"

James still hadn't moved. She furrowed her brows, but answered Loki, "In a way, yes."

Loki sighed and straightened, patting the man on his head, as if to soothe his panicked cries.

Jane turned to the woman. "Do you broadcast from this location?"

The CEO managed to tear her gaze off the gun pointed at her. If she wasn't leaning on the wall, Jane doubted she'd be able to stand. "Yes. First floor."

Facing Loki, Jane said, "Disguise yourself as her and get a breaking news feed set up."

The muscle in his jaw ticked, but his golden magic enveloped him, transforming his straight black locks into shorter curly ones. In a feminine voice, he said, "Anything else, my liege?"

She shook her head, dismissing his sarcasm, and he disappeared from the room.

"Who are you people?" the CEO asked.

Jane ignored her as James lowered his weapon and hung his head. She touched his metal arm, not knowing if he could even feel her touch, and said, "It works out better this way."

"Did you..."

She nodded, knowing he had referred to whether or not she'd held up her end, and a saddened expression crossed his features.

"You don't have to do it this way." He shifted closer to her and spoke in hushed tones. "You don't have to be like Loki."

She jerked back and gestured around the room. "As you can see, I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions. And it's not about him, or even me. You should know this better than anyone."

He held her gaze. "I do, but—"

Her phone beeped. Loki had texted that everything was set up.

"It's time," Jane said, seizing his arm. "Grab her."

"Jane—"

"So help me, James, or I will kill them all now."

His shoulders slumped and he let out a sorrowful breath that nearly made her knees buckle, but she planted her feet and shoved her emotions aside. Libertas inaestimabilis res est, she reminded herself.

As soon as he placed a gentle hand on the woman's shoulder, Jane teleported them to the first floor. "Act normal and lead us to the studio."

The woman complied and in no time, they were walking into a large room filled with lights, stages, cameras, and people bustling about. Those very same people glanced at their CEO, only to come to a halt and look back at her duplicate in confusion.

Loki transformed back into himself and smiled.

Jane ignored everyone's gawking and held up the USB drive. "Who can get these files on the internet?"

No one answered, that is, if she didn't count the young man darting toward the exit.

Loki flicked his hand, and the man dropped to the floor, as if he'd just been knocked unconscious.

"No harm will come to any of you," Jane called out. "We have information the public needs to know that the press has been hiding to protect the world governments."

There was a long moment where she thought she'd have to instill fear to gain their compliance, but then someone raised their hand.

"I can do it," the girl said.

"Good. Get it done as quickly as you can." After handing over the flash drive, Jane gestured for James to stand with Loki as she pulled the CEO to the lit-up news desk and sat her in a chair. Jane took the seat next to her and placed the bridge on the desk for all to see.

The cameraman counted down verbally, then with his fingers.

Jane took a deep breath and stared into the camera. "Everyone of you has been lied to, by your government and by the press." She gestured to the CEO who kept her gaze fixed on the desk. "A week ago, I released information on SHIELD and HYDRA to the three largest global news agencies, information that exposed the corruption tainting not only our great nation, but many others. The people you have trusted your lives with, were and are secret agents for HYDRA. They have spied on you, experimented on you, and killed you. They control you by invisible strings that I intend to sever.

As I speak, the data that had been suppressed by our supposed free press, is being released online. Two of the three news agencies have been dealt with. I leave this last one to you, the people. Take back your liberty. Take back your right to a free press and a transparent government that works for you."

The far wall exploded and a steady stream of soldiers slipped inside with rifles at the ready. Some of the news staff shrieked in surprise. The CEO lifted her head and made to stand, but Jane clamped down on her arm.

Returning her gaze back to the camera, Jane spoke quickly. "Today, I gave you back the press. Tomorrow, the government. Cast off the shackles of authority and help me reclaim what is ours."

Jane nodded to Loki, whose eyes were bright with anticipation and something she couldn't name.

They teleported to the boardroom with the CEO at her side and James at his.

"Help me drop them in the middle of Times Square," Jane said to Loki. "The people will decide their fate."

A large crowd gathered outside, watching her breaking news on the colossal screens lining the buildings. She blinked in surprise. Someone had taken the news feed and patched it in, playing it on a loop. No doubt it was already on the internet.

Men and women, young and old, backed away from where Jane stood. They pointed at her and the woman she held onto, talking, asking questions, yelling. None of what they said could be discerned, though. Not with the sirens that were ignored, nor with their collective voices combining into nothing but senseless noise.

Jane left the CEO there to jump back and forth with more and more of the board members. Loki was faster, and soon, everyone was out, and the mass of people had turned into a seething ocean eager to swallow the board members whole. They waited for a signal from Jane, and when she gave them a nod, they took justice into their own hands.

She stood with Loki and James in the midst of the chaos, untouched and unafraid. While Loki looked on with suppressed glee, James looked at nothing and no one, until he turned his gaze on her. He didn't have to speak for her to know what he thought. That to have killed them in the boardroom would've been a kinder fate than what they were currently being subjected to. Jane didn't disagree, and she didn't care.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** My sweet baby Jane, just what are you turning into? This is not an easy story for me to write, which is why I'm struggling with it. It's partly because I'm not writing from an outline—winging it make me anxious—and partly because tapping into the dark side is not natural for me. It's the same reason I can't play the bad guy of a role-playing game first—or ever. I will get through this, though. I will finish this, and then I will write fluff to lighten my soul.

Thanks for the comments on the last chapter. They really helped push me to write despite my reluctance.

I get to see my sister next week! This is major news. I won't be writing during that time though, but I should have another chapter ready to post next week, just not the following one.

FYI, the liberty quote is from Thomas Jefferson. Also, this story is my first attempt to really play with themes. I'm curious if anyone knows what they are.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Jane looked out the window of her New York suite at the chaos below. Cars littered the roads, some burning, others overturned. People had taken to the streets in protest of the corruption. Red and blue lights flashed in a dizzying spin as police cars came and went.

"Dr. Jane Foster, unsung hero or dangerous criminal?" a news anchorwoman said. "Tune in tonight for a detailed analysis on this bright, young astrophysicist turned rogue."

She didn't bother to look at the TV. They'd been covering the information she'd released, the news agencies' fall, the multiple arrests of top government officials, all the while trying to decide who she was. Most leaned toward criminal. She'd killed people, after all. She was a murderer.

 _Murderer._

Her heart hadn't skipped a beat when they'd first given her that title. And it still didn't. She felt no shame in what she'd done. It was necessary, and they had deserved it. She wasn't a monster.

"Will someone turn off that wretched sound?" Loki asked from his chair.

James turned the TV off, leaving the room in relative silence. "They're not saying anything new anyway."

She shifted on her feet and gripped her crossed arms even tighter.

"Of course not. It's only been several hours." Loki gave an exasperated sigh. "They just prattle on tirelessly, rehashing the same information over and over until we're practically brain dead."

She turned and walked to the table to grab the bridge. "Let's go."

James got to his feet. "HYDRA?"

She nodded, and some of the tension he'd been holding in his shoulders vanished. Facing Loki, she asked, "Are you coming?"

"Where the lady goes, I shall go." He gave her a smile that was both charming and devious. Much to her surprise, she smiled back.

oOoOo

They'd returned to the building where she'd discovered James to find it burned to the ground. He had walked through the charred debris like a ghost drifting across a graveyard until he found the metal contraption that had once been attached to the chair she'd found him in. He picked up the warped circular band and crushed it with his bionic hand.

"There were others like me," he said while staring at the mangled piece of metal. "But they were uncontrollable, so the program was eliminated." He looked at her. "HYDRA is the villain here. SHIELD has their faults, but they're not the bad guys. And now that you've rooted out the traitors, they'll—"

"Still govern us," she finished for him, anger sparking into existence. "Which is to watch, number and value us, indoctrinate and control us. To resist is to be repressed, vilified, and imprisoned. They know only their skewed morality and justice."

"But—"

"Didn't you mention something about Sokovia?" Loki asked him.

James exhaled long and slow, his bionic arm whirring as he clenched his fist. "The most highly classified projects are held there. The country is practically a front for HYDRA."

"Why wasn't that in the servers?" she asked.

"Some things are kept away from any form of documentation in case this sort of thing happened."

She held out her hand for him to take. "Then let's go."

oOoOo

Jane blasted through a thick concrete wall to find a security room with a wall of monitors filming people of all ages locked in closets like caged animals. The Tesseract's light brightened with her sudden flare of indignation. This was the second experimentation building she had gone through.

The guards jumped out of their seats and fumbled for their weapons while shouting at her in a language she didn't understand. She barely heard them over the steady thump of her heartbeat in her ears anyway.

Gripping the bridge, she directed its power into a stream of energy that sliced through the room, destroying the security desk and disintegrating the guards.

The lights flickered, and then the alarms turned on with an ear-splitting screech, but the prisoners' doors opened in unison. They stared at their sudden freedom with cautious hope. Jane watched them through the monitors with baited breath.

"Really, Jane," Loki said, appearing next to her. "How many times do I have to tell you to wait for me?"

The sprinklers turned on with a whoosh, coating her and Loki in a fine mist of cold water, putting out the small electrical fires, and spurring the prisoners into action. As Loki grumbled at his coat getting wet, the men, women, and children flowed out of their cells and into the hallways leading them to their freedom.

She blinked away the rivulets of water streaming down her face and turned to Loki, ready to tell him they could go. Instead, the words stayed lodged in her throat as she caught him watching her with an intensity that made her wary.

Just as she was about to back away from his close proximity, he brushed back a clump of her hair that had fallen around her eyes. The soft touch of his fingers grazing along her skin nearly made her want to lean into his touch.

"Eastern quadrant is clear," James said from outside the hole in the wall she'd made.

Jane jerked away from Loki, certain that he'd used his magic on her. She narrowed her gaze on him, ready to rebuke him for trying to trick her, but he was just as discombobulated as her.

Straightening, Loki pushed back his long hair, weighed down from the water, and said, "North is secure as well."

"West too," she added, noticing how Loki refused to look at her and how James wouldn't stop. "Meet you in the South."

She teleported out of the suddenly awkward room and into another building with relief. As soon as Loki and James landed next to her, the two men separated like a pair of repelling magnets.

She wasted no time in getting them moving. They travelled through the hallways, checking rooms and questioning the people they came into contact with before killing them. Whoever chose to work for HYDRA deserved to die. In her mind, it was simple, but not so for James. There were some people he refused to terminate, and when Loki or her took on the task, his glower deepened. She didn't understand it. They were HYDRA. They were his captors, his tormentors.

"This is it," James announced when they reached the bunker housing the top commanders.

Loki used his magic to burst open the steel doors, and then charged into the room like a reckless man on a vengeful mission. It was odd. Normally, his movements were cold and calculated.

In two seconds flat, he'd broken the necks of the three guards and thrown five daggers into five unsuspecting heads. There was only one person left.

Instead of a proud stance and boastful smile, Loki's breaths were heavy, his frame was hard, and when his gaze found hers, he quickly looked away and pulled himself together.

Loki gestured to the lone man, and said, "He's all yours."

James stood in the doorway, holding a gun in one hand and a knife in the other, while taking in the room.

The commander's chest heaved as he squared his shoulders and faced them directly. He lifted a small pistol to his temple and locked gazes with James. "Hail HYDRA."

Jane blasted the gun out of his hand before he could end his life. He squeaked in fear and fell back against the wall.

"Kill him," she commanded.

James continued to stare at the commander but made no move to claim his revenge.

"This is what you wanted, what you've been waiting for," she said. "They stole your life, now take his."

James lifted his gun. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger. The ensuing bang was louder than any of the previous ones. It felt heavier, loaded with more history and emotion. The commander's body collapsed to the floor with a thump in time with James' arm falling to his side. He turned and walked out of the room.

oOoOo

They teleported back to the hotel suite to find it rather full of unwanted guests.

"Finally," Tony said, lounging in Loki's chair, the cushion no doubt forever flattened by the weight of his Iron Man suit, "I was starting to think you wouldn't come back here."

Gold flashed in the God of Michief's hands, leaving behind his slender daggers, James lifted his gun, and Jane gripped the bridge.

"Easy," the red-headed SHIELD agent said with her hands raised. "We're just here to talk."

"Then why don't you tell Barton to put away his weapon?" Jane asked.

"You first," he retorted.

They stood in tense silence until Thor walked out of the bathroom, humming a tune. His eyes landed on Loki. "Brother."

"Thor," Loki returned the greeting. "What took you so long to find me?"

"You're blocking Heimdall."

A corner of Loki's mouth rose.

"What you did took guts," the redhead said to Jane. "Your method might've been wrong, but we all see you have good intentions." She looked at Barton. "Isn't that right, Clint?"

He said nothing.

"What do you want, then?" With a glance at Thor, Jane added, "Besides returning the Tesseract to Asgard."

The redhead took a moment to observe her before asking, "What else are you planning?"

James' attention shifted fully to Jane as well. "HYDRA is done. What else is there?"

Tony leaned forward in his seat. "Just what have you three been up to?"

"Isn't it pathetic that a nobody scientist and a broken human did what you _heroes_ never could?" Loki declared with a taunting chuckle.

Jane lifted an eyebrow, but said nothing because he was technically correct.

"What else did you do? Where'd you just come from?" Barton asked her. "Who else have you murdered?"

"Murder is such a harsh word." Loki made a distasteful face. "I prefer 'disposed of.'"

"Brother," Thor admonished him.

"HYDRA command," James answered Barton.

Tony's suit whirred as he stood. "JARVIS says there's been a lot of activity in Sokovia."

Jane nodded. "It's a free country now. HYDRA is no longer in control. In fact, they'll no longer be a major threat to any country."

"Great," the redhead said. "Your assistance is much appreciated—"

Loki gave a mocking laugh.

"—but you can stop now. You can return to your work, the Tesseract and Loki can go back to Asgard, and Barnes, with some stipulations, you're a free man." Her eyes softened. "Steve wants to talk to you. He's been looking for you since a camera picked up your image a couple years ago. He always believed you were still his old friend despite what HYDRA did to you."

James blinked, once, twice, and then lowered his weapon.

Waiting to see what he'd do, Jane watched him with careful breaths. He was free to leave, of course, but she'd miss him. While Loki made her feel alive and capable of doing anything, James kept her grounded, kept her human.

He turned to Jane. "You're not done are you?"

She shook her head.

"Enough!" Thor's nostrils flared as he exhaled. "No more placating, no more negotiating. The Tesseract and Loki go home with me."

What little tension that had been eased in the lull, had amped back up again. The hairs on her arms lifted in anticipation.

"I'd like to think that I have a say in where I go, Brother," Loki said calmly, though his hold on his daggers turned into a white-knuckled grip.

"Not anymore." Thor removed his hammer from his suit. "This game you are playing is over."

The room chilled as Loki's humor vanished. "Oh, it is far from over."

"Jane Foster." The redhead lifted her hands again to settle everyone down. "If you don't stop, then we will be forced to stop you."

"Earlier," Tony chimed in, as if nothing of consequence was going on in the room, "you said that you'd given us a free press and that tomorrow we would have the government. Why do I get the feeling you weren't just talking about Sokovia?"

"Because I wasn't," Jane said.

The tension was palpable, and yet, James continued to stand there, posture relaxed and gun hanging from his hand, watching her. "Jane," he whispered, though the hushed word spoke volumes.

Her heart thumped offbeat.

"I can't do it anymore." James' voice strengthened as he continued. "I can't keep killing people. It's done. You've won. Please stop now before you..."

In his silence, she pried open her jaw. "Before I what?"

"Before you become the villain."

Her stomach twisted into knots. Not only was he leaving her, but he thought she was a monster. _She wasn't, though,_ she told herself. _She wasn't._

Doing her best to school her features into a placid mask, she said, "Then I hope you find your peace."

What she found the strength to hide, he did not. He grimaced, as if she'd stabbed him in the chest, and his lips parted in surprise.

 _Libertas inaestimabilis res est._

When Jane tore her gaze off James to signal Loki that she was ready to leave, Tony spoke up. "Don't do it, kid." He gave her a pleading look. "I _will_ have to fight you on this."

"I understand."

"No, you don't." He took a step towards her but stopped. "You think you're freeing everyone, but if you tear this country apart, you're sentencing them to a life of hardship and lawlessness. Complete anarchy."

Loki clicked his tongue. "There is always chaos before order."

They teleported to the dingy motel room she'd procured for them before Loki had convinced her to upgrade. Moonlight streamed in through the tattered curtains. Not one thing had been cleaned up. If anything it was worse off. The cracked mirror was now in tiny fragments on the floor, the walls wore deeper pockmarks, and the air stank of mold and dust.

"Lovely." Loki wrinkled his nose.

She shrugged. It was the first place she'd thought of. "We shut down the government tomorrow."

"The sooner the better." He clasped his hands behind his back and turned to face her fully. "You haven't forgotten our deal?"

She shook her head, wondering what he was getting at.

"Good. I don't want Barnes' betrayal ruining our plans."

His words spurred the knots in her stomach to twist tighter. She had to forget about James now. "Just what are your plans?"

"That, my dear"—he walked close enough to her for the Tesseract to cast an eerie blue light over his sharp facial features—"is a secret for a later date."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** my sister is here! And we just finished editing this chapter. Yay! But I won't be writing this week, so there'll be no update next Friday. Boo. Lol.

Thanks for reading and for reviewing!

I'm beta'ing for the lovely Mercury97 who did the copy editing for Natural Selection. She just posted her story's prologue. It's called The Ties That Bind. Check it out. She has a wonderful writing style that is vivid and enthralling. I've looked over her summary, and it has a great plot line.

 **Up next:** battle...


	6. Chapter 6

Warning: this gets dark, and includes death.

 **Chapter 6**

Jane landed on the White House lawn to find the Avengers stretched out in a single line separating her from the grand building. Oddly enough, the renowned Dr. Banner was with them, completely out of place in his rumpled brown suit and fidgeting stance. His gaze went from the Bridge in her hands to her eyes focused solely on him before darting elsewhere.

"Where is my brother?" Thor asked, his silver-encased arms glinting in the sunlight.

"He should be here any moment," she answered, though honestly, she had no idea why Loki wasn't already with her.

The Avengers looked at one another in silent confusion, but then Barton nodded at the redheaded agent.

"Dr. Foster," called Romanoff, "this is your last chance to stand down. We'd rather you work with us than be put in a cell."

Stark's amplified voice carried easily to Jane. "We knew you'd come here. The building is empty. The President is in hiding. You'll get nothing out of attacking it."

Jane shook her head. "It's a symbol, and symbols are powerful things."

He sighed, then lifted his hands, the repulsors lighting up, ready to fire at her.

Gripping the Bridge, she wondered what was taking Loki so long. She couldn't do this without him.

Barton lifted his bow and nocked an arrow, the redhead pulled out her gun, and Thor removed his hammer from his belt.

The sight of each weapon trained on her had her heart pounding in her ears. She took a deep breath and thought of the Oval Office, ready to teleport.

Loki appeared next to her completely immaculate, as usual. He took in the Avengers with a smile, then glanced at her and clicked his tongue. "You really must learn patience, dear Jane."

As much as she bristled at the admonishment, she shivered at the warmth in the usually cold endearment. "Is everything ready?" she asked.

Thor was saying something to Loki, but the God of Mischief's attention was only on her. He stared at her with hands clasped behind his back and the end of his coat swaying with the gentle breeze. The sun gave his pale skin a healthy glow that made his green eyes stand out all the more. She hated how much of a distraction he'd become since she'd first met him.

"Three," Loki said, counting down. "Two." He turned to face the Avengers, daggers flashing into existence in his concealed hands. "One."

A loud explosion filled the air. The kind that sounded both like a fiery blast and a rumbling avalanche. She might've imagined it, but she could swear the tremors reached all the way to them.

A bright future filled her mind, one where people were truly free, no corruption, no manipulation, no overlords.

"The Capitol," Tony breathed out, cutting through the stunned silence and the space between them as if he'd yelled.

"And the Pentagon," Jane added. Soon, everyone would no longer be limited to the morals of a small group of people. They would decide how to live their life, to be true to themselves.

Romanoff's brows pulled together for a split second before she touched her earpiece and began furiously whispering into it.

"All of those people," Dr. Banner said with a horror-struck expression. '"How could you?"

The envisioned glorious future flickered with images of the dead and dying, crushed under the weight of the building or torn apart by the Tesseract's energy beam. She clenched her teeth and forced them from her mind.

"A small price," Loki spoke for her. "One, I'm afraid, you will all pay as well." He threw his daggers and magicked a dozen copies of himself while telling her to go.

She teleported to the Oval Office and cut through the infamous stately desk and walls with one quick swipe of the Tesseract. Seeing the paintings and couches burn, the bookshelf and tables collapse, and the wide windows shatter prickled her skin, not with unease, but with delight. The corners of her lips lifted, and she continued the complete destruction of the office, the hallway, and any room she happened upon.

The hair on the back of her neck lifted, and she spun to find Tony behind her, repulsors lit up and whining with a ready charge. She had just enough time to dart away from the white energy shooting toward her. The weapon sliced through a portion of the wall she'd just been about to dismantle. Without hesitation, she teleported to another hallway to continue her work.

Thor found her next, and his hammer caused more destruction than Tony's suit. The gaping holes and crumbling walls gave her an idea.

She bounced around, demolishing areas when she was alone and using Tony and Thor to aide her when they were near. All in all, they sped up the process a good twenty percent. She should thank them.

Walking from one room to the next she called for them—sometimes they took too long to find her. Her footsteps creaked ever so slightly on the old, yet pristine hardwood floors, then grew quiet on the large elaborate rugs. She didn't doubt most of the furnishings were antiques, each costing a small fortune. So much opulence in one small space when so many people had barely enough wealth to eat. She clenched her jaw and continued onward.

"Thor," Tony warned him when she stepped into a foyer with the two men. Thor swung his hammer, ready to hurl it at her. "No more. We're only making it easier for her."

"But—"

Tony's faceplate lifted. To her surprise, he wasn't furious or even slightly desperate as he looked at her. Sadness tilted his brows. "Jane, you can't win."

"Half of the building has fallen in on itself. Another quarter is on its way. I think I'm doing just fine."

He pointed to the window. "Loki is done. The others are coming. Hand over the Tesseract before it's too late."

Keeping her gaze on them, she backed to the window, then took a peek out at the now-pitted and charred lawn. A giant green, muscle-bound person—the Hulk, if she remembered correctly—had Loki by a leg and was smashing him into the ground repeatedly. Her mouth dropped, as did her stomach. The God of Mischief looked like a rag doll. If he was conscious, he was too out of it to fight back, teleport, or shield himself from each blow.

Only one thought filled her mind: Loki could very well die.

A fire ignited within her.

Jane heard the whoosh of Thor's spinning hammer. She narrowed her eyes and teleported to the lawn where she immediately sent the strongest blast she could manage at the green monster.

He flew backwards, straight into the White House, wrecking a large portion of what was left standing. He'd dropped Loki halfway across the lawn, and the dark-haired god didn't get up.

Her insides knotted.

 _Get up...come on...Stand!_

He didn't.

Jane stepped toward him, only for something to knock into her, making her nearly fall to the ground. A searing pain erupted in her chest. The intensity of it finished what the impact had started, dropping her to her knees. She took a shuddering breath. It hurt to do so. It hurt worse than the time she'd blown up her lab, with her in it.

Looking down at herself, she found the source of her agony. An arrow was deeply embedded into the side of her chest. She stared at it, uncertain if it was truly there. When her shaky fingers touched the cool metal, she jerked her hand back and gripped the Tesseract.

"Foster," Barton said, walking to her with his bow ready, "I won't be so lenient the next time if you don't—"

She unleashed the power of the Tesseract on him, and he exploded into ash.

The breeze swept up most of him, dispersing the gray substance until all evidence of him was gone. She blinked at the empty spot, mind blank and body frozen. What had she done?

A feminine guttural yell filled the air. A gasp, a wordless cry, a garbled curse all blended into one gut-wrenching sound. It woke Jane from her stupor and forced her to her feet.

She stood on wobbly legs, doing her best to move and breathe as little as possible. Each centimeter ripped through her, igniting the nerve endings around the arrow as if they were connected to every inch of her body.

Biting her lip to keep herself from groaning, she turned to the red headed woman standing motionless, wide eyes brimming with tears. Jane lifted the Tesseract.

"Jane!" A familiar voice called.

She hesitated, her heart thumping harder.

James ran between her and Romanoff with his hands raised. "Stop this. No more."

Captain America had been right behind him, but he didn't stop when his friend had. Instead, he ran to Romanoff. His sudden appearance stirred her back to life. She fought him to get at Jane, but Rogers used her rage to draw them both further away from the lawn.

James eyed her cautiously. She wondered if he'd seen what she'd done. Shame and guilt seeped into her core despite reasoning away her action. It'd been necessary. He was going to overpower her and steal the Bridge, to kill her. If she didn't get medical attention soon, his arrow might very well be the end of her anyway.

As if he'd read her mind, James said, "We need to take care of that before your lung collapses."

Neither of them moved.

"Come with me," he added. "It's not too late."

Wasn't it?

Tears leaked down her cheeks, but she refused to take a hand off the bridge to wipe them away. _She did the right thing. It wasn't her fault they couldn't accept the truth._

"You saved me when I was lost," he said. "You brought me back." Reaching a hand toward her, he added, "Let me do the same for you."

Two heavy thuds landed on the ground, one closer to her than the other. She turned to see Thor walking to a still-unconscious Loki, strange-looking handcuffs at the ready. Tony stood not far from her. His stance wasn't aggressive, but she knew that was an act. He was ready for her. They all were.

Forgetting the arrow, she took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. Molten lava ran through her veins instead of blood. Her head swam and she swayed on her feet.

James ran for her, but she yelled for him to stop. The word carried so much heat, not only did he come to an abrupt halt, but so did Thor.

"Leave him alone," she called to the God of Thunder.

"Jane," James tentatively said, "let Loki go. He's been manipulating you, influencing you to act on thoughts you normally wouldn't. Thor said it's one of his gifts."

"He's telling the truth," Tony declared without a hint of a joke. "This isn't you."

"Why? Because you've read my file?" she asked him with a bitter laugh, the arrow cutting deeper, fueling her anger. She looked at James and added, "Because you've known me for a couple weeks?" Her fingers tightened around the Bridge. "None of you know me."

She teleported to Loki's side and sent a blast of energy at Thor. He deflected it with his hammer, then slammed the heavy weapon against the ground.

The shockwave knocked her off her feet and jostled Loki enough to make him stir on his own. He lifted to his elbows, shaking his head as if it wasn't working properly. The Bridge had fallen from her grasp when she'd landed hard on her back, jostling the arrow and ripping a cry from her lips. She gasped for breath that only fed her pain. White spots dappled her vision. She dug her nails into her palms and forced herself to remain conscious.

When Tony landed close by and lunged for the Bridge, she flipped over to reach for the device. The action burrowed the arrow deeper into her chest. Bile rose to her throat. Fire consumed her. Agony filled her, and yet she stretched out further.

His blocky gloved fingers fumbled around one of the handles, whereas hers easily slid around the other. She twisted it just so and let the energy loose.

Tony's suit melted in on itself. His amplified screams threatened to deafen her. She grimaced against the onslaught, fought down the uncomfortable emotions rearing their ugly heads, and pushed herself up to sitting, while panting through gritted teeth.

Thor had one handcuff around Loki's wrist and was almost successful in binding the other. Loki was still too dazed to offer more than a weak struggle. Thor's eyes found hers as she lifted the Bridge. They widened in surprise, reflecting the Tesseract's blue energy hurtling toward him, then disintegrated into ash.

Loki stiffened as his brother's remains settled on and around him. The hammer was untouched, resting gently on the soft grass by his legs.

The green monster burst out of the house, causing one the columns to topple over into another. They fell like a row of dominoes with an air-splitting crash. He barreled toward them, each footfall a clap of thunder that shook the ground.

Hopping to his feet, Loki patted his coat, which did nothing to help improve its disheveled condition. Thor's ashes stirred into a hazy cloud. He offered her a smile that fell when he caught sight of the arrow protruding from her chest. "Don't move."

He disappeared only to reappear next to the Hulk, jump onto his back, and teleport them both out of the area, or even out of the Solar System for all she knew.

She sighed, electric shocks coursing through her body. Her fingers and toes involuntarily curled, her skin crawled, but she embraced the pain, let it encompass her until she didn't know where she ended and the torment began. Something told her that was disturbing, but she was too numb to care.

"What have you done?" James said, more breath than sound.

She knew it was a rhetorical question, but she answered anyway. "What was necessary." Though her body demanded her to lie down and sleep like the dead, she climbed to her feet, the task no more difficult than scaling Mount Everest. "No one had to die, but they wouldn't stop. They didn't understand."

"You've become no different than HYDRA," he declared, more certain than she'd ever heard from him.

"You don't understand." Her breath came in as a wheeze. "I did what I had to."

He watched her, his eyes saying she was now the monster.

She coughed. The convulsion raked her body with a thousand needles. Something wet slid down her chin. She touched the thick liquid and then looked down at her blood coating the tips of her fingers. Dark red filled her vision. Her breath came in thin and tenuous, too light to pick up the coppery scent that should've been there.

She coughed again. This time blood splattered her hand and wrist.

Coldness swept over and through her, as if a bitter winter wind buffeted her. She shivered under the midday summer sun.

Her body was shutting down. She was dying.

James watched her, not unkindly, but refusing to go to her.

Her legs buckled, and just as she collapsed, Loki appeared, catching her with an arm wrapped around her waist. He pulled her close to him and touched the arrow. It disappeared from sight, though it still felt like it was piercing her chest.

Relief did not come until he placed a hand over the wound. Tingling warmth suffused her very essence, pushing back the deadly chill and mending her flesh. A full breath entered her lungs for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. She took another and another.

"Better?" he asked, not letting her go.

She smiled, and his eyes flicked down to her lips. She must look ghastly, but he showed no sign of distaste. Instead, he lifted a finger and wiped the blood away with one languorous sweep that ended with him grasping her chin.

He tilted her face up and captured her lips with his own. His arm around her waist tightened, drawing her so close she felt the groves, the metal bits, and folded leather of his coat and tunic, the length and warmth of him. And yet, it wasn't enough. Greed overcame her. She wanted him more than she wanted air.

Lifting to her toes, her free hand explored wherever it wanted while she deepened the kiss. Their mouths moved together as if the action had not been their first, not even their thousandth. It was natural, effortless, and perfect.

A gunshot split the air.

Loki's arm jerked from her. His soft lips stretched taut into a smile, and he pulled back from her with a twinkle in his eye.

She glanced at his outstretched arm and then at a furious James aiming his gun at Loki.

The God of Mischief opened his fist and a flattened bullet dropped to the grass. "Try that again, and I will not let my affection for Jane get in the way of retribution. Your friend and the redhead are still alive, are they not?"

The threat hung in the air like heavy fog.

James ground his teeth, but he lowered his gun.

When Loki's gaze returned to her, it softened. He took the hand not holding onto the Bridge and and kissed the back of her knuckles. "I believe it is time we go."

"Where?" Her curiosity demanded her to ask the question. She'd been wondering about her end of the bargain.

"To Jotunheim. A wasteland of monsters hungry for power and domination, enemies of Asgard and a threat to your world."

She nodded, eager to learn everything she could about what lay outside of Earth, but even more eager to eliminate tyranny wherever it resided.

"You can't leave us now," James shouted at her, gesturing to the unrecognizable White House and the smoking Capitol in the distance. "Not like this."

She laughed humorlessly. "Have a little faith in humanity, James. The people will come together. Just make certain no one person rises above the rest, because as long as one rules over another, there will never be peace."

Intertwining her fingers with Loki's, she added, "Besides, I'll return, and if corruption has seeped back in, I'll pluck it back out."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** so that's it. I wonder what she and Loki will get up to. I like leaving some things up to the imagination. Don't know why, but there you go.

I know I killed off some beloved characters, but it just felt right. I hope you can forgive me. :)

My themes were freedom through anarchy, and you become that which you fight. A lot of what jane says are paraphrased quotes on anarchism. I never studied it before and it was interesting. And Bucky was meant to be her parallel. As he grew lighter, she grew darker. Experimenting with different story elements was fun.

Thanks for reading and a big thanks to those who commented. Sorry this chapter took longer to get posted. Life.

I'm writing a one shot for my Jane-centric series. I hope to post it next Friday.


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